Transgenic Organisms

Transgenic, Recombinant DNA, Cloning

Transgenic Organisms• An organism made from taking the gene(s) of

one organism, and incorporating that gene(s) into another

• The DNA of a transgenic organism is called recombinant DNA, which is DNA produced by combining DNA from different sources

• This means that the DNA has been “recombined” by adding genes from elsewhere, creating a transgenic organism

• “trans” = other and “genic” = genes

Why create transgenic organisms?

• Creates organisms with special characteristics they don’t usually have

• Disease resistant, produce special proteins, etc

• Allows scientists to study the function of the genes that are transferred in other organisms

• Write down 3 plant and animal examples to remember

Glow in the Dark Cats• The researchers took skin cells from Turkish Angora female

cats and used a virus to insert genetic instructions for making red fluorescent protein. Then they put the gene-altered nuclei into the eggs for cloning, and the cloned embryos were implanted back into the donor cats — making the cats the surrogate mothers for their own clones.

• The ability to engineer animals with fluorescent proteins will enable them to artificially create animals with human genetic diseases.

Enviropig, AKA “Frankenswine”• Better digest and process phosphorus. Pig manure is high in phytate, a

form of phosphorus, so when farmers use the manure as fertilizer, the chemical enters the watershed and causes algae blooms that deplete oxygen in the water and kill marine life.

• Added an E. Coli bacteria and mouse DNA to a pig embryo. This modification decreases a pig’s phosphorous output by as much as 70 percent — making the pig more environmentally friendly

Spider Goat• Strong, flexible spider silk is one of the most valuable materials in nature,

and it could be used to make an array of products — from artificial ligaments to parachute cords — if we could just produce it on a commercial scale.

• Researchers inserted a spiders’ dragline silk gene into the goats’ DNA in such a way that the goats would make the silk protein only in their milk. This “silk milk” could then be used to manufacture a web-like material called Biosteel

Fast-growing Salmon• Grows twice as fast as the conventional variety • Added growth hormone from a Chinook salmon that allows the fish to

produce growth hormone year-round. Scientists were able to keep the hormone active by using a gene from an eel-like fish called an ocean pout, which acts as an “on switch” for the hormone

• If the FDA approves the sale of the salmon, it will be the first time the government has allowed modified animals to be marketed for human consumption. According to federal guidelines, the fish would not have to be labeled as genetically modified.

Glo Fish

• World's first commercially available transgenic animal• Have had fluorescent proteins extracted from jellyfish

inserted into their DNA to make them glow green, orange, or red

• Originally for studying water pollutants - insert genes for proteins that would fluoresce in the presence of certain contaminants

Brainbow Mouse• Four fluorescent proteins in varying combinations and saturations, much

like a television is able to convey almost every color conceivable through the use of only three colors

• Over 90 different shades• The colorful cells were individual neurons and the colors helped scientists

distinguish one cell from another

Cancer-resistant Mouse

• A mouse that was resistant to spontaneous and artificially induced tumors

• Its inability to get cancer is due to the insertion of a gene that codes for a protein called Par-4. This protein specifically kills cancer cells without affecting normal cells, which according to researcher Vivek M. Rangnekar makes it "a tumor suppressor that would be ideal for therapeutic intervention strategies.”

Mighty Mice

• Can run for 25 times as long as normal mice at the same speed, and they eat more and live longer. Bred as a tool to investigate the metabolic enzyme PEPCK-C, which plays a role in the generation of glucose, the mice are genetically altered to over-produce this enzyme

Fearless Mouse• Removing the gene for stathmin, an enzyme that is found in

high levels in an area of the brain implicated in emotional processing and fear

• While these mice developed normally and their other types of memory were normal, they showed deficits in long-term potentiation, a process that is necessary to fear conditioning and may play a role in innate fear

• Studying the role of genes in emotional responses such as fear.

Drug-Producing Chicken• Chickens are simpler and more efficient factories than

synthetic methods for producing pharmaceutical proteins (the proteins are extracted from the egg white).

• Next aim is to produce an egg that contains an antibody against a virus of the gut. "The idea is that children will eat the egg white and the antibody will protect them from developing a diarrhoeal disease."

Aedes Mosquito

• Males that are genetically altered to be sterile are released into the wild. These infertile mosquitoes mate with females and produce no offspring, reducing the mosquito population.

• Fight mosquito-mediated diseases

Medicinal Eggs• Breed of genetically modified hens that produce cancer-fighting medicines

in their eggs. The animals have had human genes added to their DNA so that human proteins are secreted into the whites of their eggs, along with complex medicinal proteins similar to drugs used to treat skin cancer and other diseases

Emerald Sea Slug

• May be the first known naturally-occurring transgenic species• It is able to use the chloroplasts from the algae on which it

feeds to create energy by photosynthesis. No other animals have the genes necessary to utilize chloroplasts this way.

• The gene sequence identical to that of an algal photosynthetic gene may have been naturally integrated into the sea slug's DNA in the past

• Give insight into the possibility of plant-to-animal gene transfer in other species.

Less Flatulent Cows• Cows produce significant amounts of methane as a result of their

digestion process — it’s produced by a bacterium that’s a byproduct of cows’ high-cellulosic diets that include grass and hay. Methane is a major contributor — second only to carbon dioxide — to the greenhouse effect, so scientists have been working to genetically engineer a cow that produces less methane

• Agriculture research scientists at the University of Alberta have identified the bacterium responsible for producing methane and designed a line of cattle that creates 25 percent less methane than the average cow

FLAVR SVR Tomato• First commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a

license for human consumption• Adding an antisense gene slows the ripening process of the tomato to

prevent softening and rotting, while allowing the tomato to retain its natural flavor and color.

• The FDA approved the Flavr Savr in 1994; however, the tomatoes were so delicate that they were difficult to transport, and they were off the market by 1997. On top of production and shipping problems, the tomatoes were also reported to have a very bland taste

Venomous Cabbage

• Incorporates the gene that programs poison in scorpion tails • These genetically modified cabbages would produce scorpion

poison that kills caterpillars when they bite leaves — but the toxin is modified so it isn’t harmful to humans.

Pollution-fighting plants• Absorb groundwater pollutants through their roots. The plants then break

the pollutants down into harmless byproducts that are incorporated into their roots, stems and leaves or released into the air.

• In laboratory tests, the transgenic plants are able to remove as much as 91 percent of trichloroethylene — the most common groundwater contaminant at U.S. Superfund sites — out of a liquid solution. Regular poplar plants removed just 3 percent of the contaminant.

Banana Vaccine• When an altered form of a virus is injected into a banana sapling, the

virus’ genetic material quickly becomes a permanent part of the plant’s cells.

• As the plant grows, its cells produce the virus proteins — but not the infectious part of the virus. When people eat a bite of a genetically engineered banana, which is full of virus proteins, their immune systems build up antibodies to fight the disease — jus

• Also done in potatoes, lettuce, carrots and tobacco

Genetically-modified Trees

• To grow faster, yield better wood and even detect biological attacks

• For example, Australian eucalyptus trees have been altered to withstand freezing temperatures, and loblolly pines have been created with less lignin, the substance that gives trees their rigidity. In 2003, the Pentagon even awarded Colorado State researchers $500,000 to develop pine trees that change color when exposed to biological or chemical attack

• Black Hills Pine Beetle???

Laura Cinti Cactus (Hairy Cactus)

• Laura Cinti, a British artist made it for a work of art

• Gene keratin that makes hair and fingernails transferred to cactus

• Real or fake?

Blue Rose

• Gene for blue pigmenttaken from other plant

• Blue roses are NOT natural;they are transgenic

• Aesthetic purpose (they’repretty…) but no real scientific value itself